John Carpenter Hated One Of 2024's Best Horror Movies

Critics and essayists love to use the phrase "Master of Horror" to describe director John Carpenter. This is certainly a fair descriptor, as Carpenter has directed some of the most notable horror films of all time. He created masterpieces in the 1970s ("Halloween"), the 1980s ("The Thing"), and the 1990s ("In the Mouth of Madness"). All told, several of Carpenter's best movies have been horror films, and he's also helmed a few horror TV projects besides. The man is often asked about the genre, although he rarely goes into much thematic or intellectual detail during interviews. Instead, Carpenter tends to regard movies in a more workmanlike fashion, concerned more with the craft than the substance. 

And speaking of the substance, Carpenter disliked "The Substance." 

Indeed, Carpenter met fans at a 2025 Fan Expo event to talk with his many devotees about his career and, in a brief exchange posted on the Fan Expo YouTube channel, Carpenter asked a guest if she liked Coralie Fargeat's 2024 hit body horror film "The Substance." The fan said she loved it, to which Carpenter responded by admitting he hated it. He didn't elaborate much, only to add that he hated everything about it. These are harsh words for a horror film that was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, and Best Makeup. (It won for Makeup.) One might think that a horror enthusiast like Carpenter would be glad to have seen such a strange, horrific, bloody movie as "The Substance" be recognized by the Academy — and he might well have been — but he couldn't escape the fact that he simply didn't like the movie. Sadly, no further details were provided on the matter. 

"The Substance," to remind readers, is a showbiz drama about Elisabeth (Demi Moore), a fictional Hollywood-star-turned-TV-workout-guru who faces being fired by her gross, sexist boss (Dennis Quaid) for her age. Elisabeth, you see, has just turned 50, which is considered "too old" for the Hollywood establishment. She then receives a mysterious tip on an eerie, injectable drug — the titular substance — that promises to de-age her. When she injects it, Elisabeth's back splits open (!), and a younger woman (Margaret Qualley) crawls out. Taking the name of Sue, the latter manages to get Elisabeth's old job back, dazzling audiences with her youth, clear skin, and buttocks.

Of course, there are rules to using the substance. Notably, Elisabeth has to switch between her two selves every seven days. Suffice it to say, the film eventually reveals what  happens when those rules are violated in gruesome detail. "The Substance" is, quite obviously, about ageism and the way the entertainment industry and general public alike fetishize youth and dismiss middle-aged women. It's one of the best films released in 2024.

Just not according to Carpenter. When he heard that a listener loved "The Substance," he replied with "Well, I didn't." When pressed, he merely said, "What did I like about 'The Substance?' Zero." When asked what in particular he hated about it, he simply said, "Everything."

In contrast to his comments, Fargeat cited Carpenter as an influence in a 2024 interview with Inverse. Fargeat noted that she deeply loves Carpenter, as well as David Cronenberg, David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton, and Paul Verhoeven. "The Substance" was meant to be a mixed homage to the filmmakers she adores. It seems, though, that Carpenter didn't see himself in Fargeat's work.

His loss, I suppose. "The Substance" is excellent.